My name is Sophia and I am a student on the Computational stream of the MSc Cognitive Neuroimaging and Data Science course. Last year, I completed a BSc in Psychology and Neuroscience, where I spent two years primarily studying psychology, while my final year was centred around neuroscience, data science, and statistics.

I found the scholarship to be incredibly helpful in pursuing my degree. Before receiving the scholarship, I had planned to work part-time alongside the degree as I had done throughout the course of my bachelor’s degree. However, as a result of the scholarship funding, I was able to apply for a casual role, with the option to only take shifts during quieter periods of my degree. This allowed me to focus on my studies, which in hindsight likely made a large difference in the quality of work I was able to produce. As a student that did not have a background in computer science, I feel that the scholarship was crucial in helping me to put in the time that I needed to read around the topics that were being covered in lectures and strengthen my understanding. 

As a student on this course, I have been given the opportunity to take modules within the School of Computer Science, as well as the School of Psychology. As a result, I have been able to study a range of topics, from robotics to electroencephalography. Taking modules within the School of Computer Science was challenging, as these were modules intended for final-year computer science students, who by this point had much more experience in the field than me. However, with time I was able to bridge this knowledge gap and looking back, I have found my experience with these modules to have been incredibly rewarding. 

One aspect of this course that particularly stands out is the way in which I have been able to tailor my modules in accordance with my interests and the dissertation project that I have chosen. The ability to choose from modules based within two different schools, as well as the choice to study a range of neuroscientific research methods in detail has allowed me to select the topics that I feel are the most relevant. Overall, I have found this course to lie in a perfect intersection of my interests, equipping me with the enhanced skills in neuroscience, data science, robotics and AI that I had sought when I applied. 

Over the course of my degree, I realised that I enjoyed the problem-solving aspect of my programming-based modules and by this point, I had also become fascinated by the topic of brain-computer interfaces. As a result, I sought out opportunities to build a stronger background in both neuroscience and computer science in order to pursue a career in a field closely aligned to my interests. 

This course has opened new doors for me, and allowed me to access industries and roles that I may have been unable to before. Both neuroscience and computer science are rapidly developing fields and I hope to find a career that lies somewhere in the intersection of the two, where I can make a unique contribution with the skills that this degree has equipped me with.